Mid-Autumn Moon
by Allekha
Summary: Alfred was promised a farm. What he gets isn't much of one, but with visions of corn in tassel and cattle cropping clover in mind, he's not going to let that stop him from making it into the best farm this side of the Mississippi. Harvest Moon fusion. (Hinted pre-America/Taiwan)


A/N: Written for VampirePaladin for Beyond Panels 2015. Setting is based off of (More) Friends of Mineral Town.

* * *

Alfred groaned quietly as he stumbled into his apartment. After working all day, he had had to shove for a standing position on his bus home, and then the elevator in his building was out _again_ , which meant that he had had to climb all six flights of stairs up to his apartment. He didn't bother turning on the lights – the last rays of sunlight streaming through the window lit the room up adequately. Instead he slumped in one of the chairs at the table and lay his head on his arms.

At least he had room to do that. Arthur had come over last weekend and made him clean it up. Or more accurately, _he_ had cleaned it while asking Alfred if he needed this-or-that document, as Alfred made dinner. Much better than the alternative.

The only thing on the table now was the newspaper. Alfred eventually sat up and pulled it over, not really up to making dinner yet and he was trying to save money by not eating out, not even McDonald's. He skimmed over the news articles – nothing new – lingered over the sports section, and then, still not ready to get up, moved on to the classifieds.

There he saw it.

 _Would you like to enjoy a peaceful and refreshing farm life? For more info, contact..._

A place where he could enjoy the fruits of an honest day's labor, not sit around all day and be harassed by customers. A place where he could see the blue sky and verdant grass instead of grey concrete walls and overly-bright fluorescent lighting. A place where he could raise amber waves of grain.

Was there any better way to fulfill the ultimate American Dream?

Alfred leapt for the phone.

~!~

He had a good feeling about this. The sun was shining, a sweet breeze was blowing, and the town – Olive Branch Town – was the kind of cute country-style rural place that he had been expecting. It even had a pretty painted gate!

The mayor met him there, a blond guy dressed in a neat suit. He had a German accent; Alfred wondered briefly if he was related to an Amish family or something, or if he was an immigrant, or–

"...and here's your farm, Mr. Jones," the mayor said, interrupting his thoughts. What was the guy's name again, anyway? Ludwig something-or-other-German?

America stepped through the gate and peered around eagerly, seeing–

A weed-choked field. Rotting remains of fences. Stones everywhere.

At least the house looked to be in decent repair, if in need of a new coat of paint. Which was good. That meant there definitely wouldn't be any g-ghosts in there, right?

"Um." This was _not_ what the real estate agent had promised him.

Ludwig coughed. "I understand that this isn't what you were told, Mr. Jones. The real estate agent has been trying to sell this property for some time, and every time he embellishes its actual state. According to the contract, you can still refuse it now and receive a refund."

Alfred had already moved out of his apartment and quit his job. He couldn't just go back and try to live with Mathew or Arthur for a while and find another boring office job.

He squared his shoulders, put on his best blinding grin, and said, "It's fine! I'll take it!"

Ludwig blinked at him. "You will?"

"I mean, sure, it needs some love and care and a few repairs, but the house is good, right? Then it's fine! Great, even!"

After making Alfred sign some paperwork – he kind of just scrawled his signature instead of actually reading whatever it was he was supposed to be agreeing to – Ludwig told him where to find him if Alfred needed anything and then left.

He put his things away in the house – which was dusty, but had a bed and working fridge and even a TV, though it only got four channels – Alfred re-emerged into the sunlight with the tools he had found. He set his hands on his hips and surveyed what he had.

Time to get to work!

~!~

It took most of the morning to clear a decent portion of the field. Alfred cut away the thick, tangled weeds, tossed the rotting fence posts into a pile (maybe he could use them for firewood later?), dug up stones and tossed them into another pile, and then finally hoed some rows into place.

He took a break around noon, washing the sweat from his face in the pretty little creek that ran by his farm. There were even fish in it! Once this place was back in working order, it was going to be _paradise_!

Once he ate his packed lunch, he decided that he'd done enough clearing for one day. He had no idea what grew well around here; he really should look that up. And buy seeds to plant. Or better yet, he could ask the person selling seeds what would do well in this soil.

Mind set, he headed north and paused, already lost. He hadn't been paying attention when he arrived, and Ludwig hadn't given him a map or anything. Well, that was alright. He liked exploring! Or he could get to know his new neighbors.

"Excuse me!" he called to pretty young woman who was passing by. She paused and sent him a scowl. Oops. Maybe he'd interrupted her. Oh well! "I was just wondering – see I just moved here this morning and I was wondering if you could tell me where I can buy seeds and stuff like that!"

She pointed north-east ish. "That way."

"Okay, thanks!"

Only as she continued on her way, boots clicking on the cobblestones, did he realize that he didn't know what store he was looking for. Or her name. Oh, well, the store would probably have a sign or something, and he would run into her again sooner or later. Maybe when she wasn't so busy.

He went north until he ran out of street to go north on and then east. A house, a library, more houses... and already he had run into a general store! "I bet I can get seeds here," he said to himself, and he headed on in, grinning as a cheerful bell rang when he opened the door.

The guy manning the counter had _super_ spiky hair, wow. Like, sharp enough to cut something on. And he mostly ignored Alfred as he came in, just glancing up at him before going back to organizing shelves or whatever.

But that was okay, because there were seeds!

He puzzled over them for a while, reading the backs of the packages and looking at the price tags and trying to figure out what he should get.

The bell rung again. "Oh, hello!" Alfred turned to see a cute, short-haired girl with a big smile on her face. "I haven't seen you around before – welcome to our store!"

"I just moved here," he said, grinning back as he set the seed packs down. Behind the counter, the guy looked up for a few moments. "I'm Alfred!" He stuck out his hand for a proper handshake.

She took it and shook firmly. "I'm Emma. My brother over there and I run this place together. Don't mind Tim too much. He's just been depressed over our profits since the old farmer skipped town."

"I guess it's a good thing I'm taking the farm over, then!"

"Oh, are you? That's great news. The people in the city love the local super-organic type stuff, so I'm sure they'll be happy to have a steady supply again."

Alfred laughed. "Actually, I was wondering if you could help me with choosing seeds to plant..."

Emma told him about what crops fetched what amounts of money and what the old farmer guy had tended to plant. He didn't have much money, but he did pick up some cucumber seeds, which left him a little change for an emergency.

He whistled as he left the store and turned back toward his farm. Time to do some planting! He could see his farm taking shape already.

~!~

The next morning he did some more field-clearing, but while the hard work felt good – especially after all that time as a stationary office worker – there wasn't too much of a point in doing much more when he couldn't afford to plant any more of it.

He flipped a penny to decide between going south and exploring the woods and going north and seeing more of the town. Honest Abe sent him north.

He hadn't yet even looked at the sign for the closest building. Hammer and anvil? What did that mean? He entered the store only to be met with smoke, which made him break into a reflexive coughing fit, and plenty of cursing.

Someone shoved him back out the door. "Stand here for a minute, stupid fucking forge..." He didn't even get a glance at the shop owner before he disappeared back inside.

Alfred waited. His lungs calmed down pretty quickly in the clear outside air.

"Sorry, somethin' got knocked over but it should be fine once it airs out. Freak accident, don't let it stop you from buying, 'cause we've got the awesomest metal work in town." The shop owner, an albino guy with a dusty blacksmith's apron, reappeared in the doorway, grinning at Alfred despite the smoke drifting out of the building behind him. "Huh? Are you new here or something'?"

The man introduced himself as Gilbert something-German. "I feel like I've heard that name before," Alfred commented.

"You _better_ have. Even if you haven't heard of my tools and jewelry and stuff, didn't my brother take you to that run-down farm a few days ago?"

"You mean the mayor?"

"Yeah! He's my little bro. Still comes to help out when he's not too busy with mayor stuff."

"Oh. That's cool." A mayor who did something other than being a politician? This town was just getting better. "Hey, can I see your forge?" Machines and making things and stuff – that was cool. Alfred had _loved_ his shop class in high school.

Gilbert's eyes lit up at the question, and he half-dragged Alfred inside to explain his hand-built forge.

~!~

He ignored the chicken farm and the ranch for now – he'd visit them soon enough, once he had some real money in his wallet – spent a little time seeing the winery, and ended up in the local inn as the evening started to fall. It was early, so not many people were there yet, but the guy running the bar, Francis, was friendly. Very friendly. Maybe friendly in the way that had Arthur warning him off Frenchman. ...nah. Besides, the free wine samples were great.

A pretty woman (though all the women here seemed to be pretty) sat down with him for a bit. "Elizabeta," she said. "My husband Roderich and I run the actual bed and breakfast part of the inn."

"Do you get a lot of customers?" Alfred asked between bites of his apple pie. It wasn't as good as the kind he could make, but it was _awful_ good.

"Oh, a few. People like to come up to see the flowers in the spring, the colors in the fall, and sometimes we get people wanting to go up the mountain in the summer and winter. So a pretty steady trickle. I heard that you bought that old farm. Does that mean we can look forward to farm-fresh eggs and milk for breakfast again?"

"Soon as I've got eggs and milk!" He beamed at her, and she smiled back.

"Well, I hope you enjoy it around here. Oh, just be careful if you go into the mine."

"The mine?"

"There's a very old, unused mine by the hot spring. It's not commercially viable any more, but there's still enough metal and jewels left that people sometimes try their luck. The upper levels are okay, but... there's strange things lower down." She sighed and pushed her hair back behind her ear, then held out her left hand. "When I went there to get the gold for our wedding rings, I had to fight off things that looked like animals. They get pretty vicious in attacking, though."

"You got the raw materials for your own rings? Wow."

"Not just the gold – the gems, too!"

Before he could reply, her eyes settled on something behind him and she jumped up from her stool. " _Gilbert what the hell are you doing?!_ "

Alfred only turned in time to see Elizabeta lean over the counter to grab the frying pan sitting on the stove and then jump on Gilbert. They tussled, both shouting and cursing at each other. The people sitting at the tables around them either watched idly or completely ignored them. Elizabeta had the advantage of a weapon, but Gilbert seemed to be holding his own very well.

...at least he was learning who not to piss off around here.

"Don't worry about them too much!" a cheerful voice said from Elizabeta's previous seat. "They do this sometimes. I think they actually like it, y'know?"

"Oka-a-ay," Alfred said as he turned to face this new guy. "Hi, I'm Alfred, I just moved into the farm."

"Ooh, that place? Like, good on you for cleaning it up. It's been _such_ an eyesore, and we haven't had good butter in _ages_." The man sighed. "I'm Feliks! I'm the local priest, so I live down in the church."

"There's a church?" He'd heard bells on the hour, but he'd thought that maybe there was a clock tower or something. "When do you guys have services?" He had never had both the time and energy to go to church when he was working his old job; he really should be going again, now that he could.

Feliks rattled off hours for everything and a few other details, then mentioned: "It's Catholic, if that, like, bothers you."

Alfred tensed slightly. Childhood influences had left him with a bit of a distrust for Catholicism, but that was silly, right? They were still Christians, right? Besides, he was lucky enough to live in a country with religious freedom, he should be happy about the variety! "I don't see why it should be a problem," he said, switching on his grin again. No point judging before he'd been to the service.

~!~

Once his cucumbers sprouted, he made sure to sprinkle them extra gently before venturing out into the woods with his axe and his knapsack. There was plenty of deadwood below the beautiful blooming trees to chop up for the firewood pile. He busied himself for a while, humming _Yankee Doodle_ and _America the Beautiful_ and _My Country 'Tis of Thee_ under his breath as he chopped up branches into more manageable lengths. He'd have to take a few trips to lug it all back to his farm.

"Good morning!" someone called. Alfred wiped the sweat from his eyes and looked up. On the path stood a couple of men, one short and pale-haired (he must have spoke; he was waving), while the other was stoic-faced and holding a _very_ sharp axe.

Alfred felt a shiver go down his back. Visions of horror-movie axe murders stalking through dark, foggy houses sprung to his mind.

Ahaha, but axe murderers weren't real! E-except for Lizzie Borden and Herbert Cooper and–

Alfred grinned as widely as he possibly could and introduced himself. The guy with the axe was _not_ a murderer (not that he would have said of course–) but Berwald, the town carpenter who was going to cut trees down for wood, and his partner Timo.

"We really should be going," Timo said, "but why don't you come to the hot spring later and we can talk more then?"

Alfred scrunched his face up. "Hot springs?"

He tagged along with them for a few minutes – the hot spring was on the way out to the deeper forest, Timo said, and sure enough, there it was. Alfred only had a shower that was permanently stuck on cold; a hot spring sounded heavenly.

"There's a basket for making soft-boiled eggs, too," Timo pointed out, leaning over the edge that was open to the spring. "And you can see the stars very well at night."

"Thanks," Alfred said, a little absently. "Um, what's with that thing by the water?"

"That?" Timo glanced at it. "It's a shrine to the Harvest Goddess. Supposedly, if you throw things she likes into the spring, she'll appear before you. It's an old tradition around here."

"Oh." Definitely not one he was going to participate in anytime soon.

"There's a kappa in the lake, too!"

"A what?"

"Some kind of creature from Japan," Timo said with a shrug as he wandered back over to where Berwald was waiting. "You'd have to ask Dr. Honda for the details, but it likes cucumbers and sometimes gives presents in return."

Oh no no no. He'd _seen_ Japanese horror films!

~!~

The cucumbers thrived under his careful watch, and the shipment guy commented on them when he came to pick up Alfred's goods a few days later. He actually was making money, little by little; he'd spent a few afternoons fishing in the creek, and he'd figured out that the colored grasses in the woods were actually worth something. For some reason.

"Your plants are really growing in, huh?" Mikkel exclaimed as he emptied out Alfred's shipping container. "Soon you'll be making a fortune on this place!"

Alfred liked Mikkel. He was the same kind of tall, blond, _almost_ scary guy as Berwald was, but with a more cheerful personality to go with it, and he didn't carry around an axe.

Also, he gave Alfred money.

Mikkel's friend, who tended to tag along with him on his rounds for whatever reason, sighed. Alfred thought his name was Lukas, but they hadn't yet had a proper conversation except for a few comments about the fish he'd caught, so he wasn't sure. "Does a few plants really make a farm, though?"

Alfred laughed. "It's not much of one _yet,_ even I have to admit that. But wait and see, someday this whole place will be covered in all kinds of crops."

Lukas made a noncommittal sound, but Alfred didn't notice; he was already deep into one of his fantasies about his future farm. Rows and rows of corn, tomatoes bursting with redness and flavor, sweet potatoes golden and sweet and ready for Thanksgiving dinner–

"Hey!"

"Huh?" Alfred came out of his dream to see Mikkel thrusting a pouch of money at him.

"Here's today's payment!"

"Oh, thanks." He took it and counted it out. He'd just made enough for a few more seed packets. He would have to go and pick some up at the store tomorrow. Maybe Emma would be running it instead of her grumpy brother.

"'m headin' up to the Inn after droppin' this off," Mikkel said, lifting up his crate piled high with various items. "You want to come with?"

He had _just_ enough left over to have some fun, too. "Sure!"

"Lukas?"

"Goin' fishin' at the lake with my brother."

One thing that Alfred was rapidly finding out about this town was that he didn't drink _nearly_ as much as half the residents did. He wasn't as prohibitionist as he'd been when he was younger, but the amount of wine, beer, and god-knew-what that even someone like Timo could put away on a regular basis was a little bit frightening. Just a little. Even the mayor got in on it!

At least tonight Elizabeta and Gilbert weren't fighting. Actually, they seemed to be on speaking terms again, sitting next to each other at their table, even if they kept yelling at one another every once in a while.

He wondered who was the guy sitting in the corner, smiling at everyone and drinking what looked a lot like vodka. And why he was wearing the coat and scarf in the warm and heady spring.

When he asked, though, Mikkel made a face and only said, "That's Ivan."

Alfred usually seemed to be the first to excuse himself. Well, he did wake up early in the morning. As Benjamin Franklin had said: _Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise_. Alfred did his best to live by such words, which did make the farming life easier. Probably. At least it would when he could afford animals.

~!~

After he planted his new seeds, the amount of free space in his field had declined dramatically. Alfred set himself back to clearing more land to make room for more rows of crops. Five minutes into pulling up brambles, he tripped over a rock and sliced his arm open on a chunk of old fence.

He hurriedly went to go find a rag to stop the bleeding, wincing at the pain. When he pulled it away, he couldn't tell how bad the wound was. It sure hurt an awful lot, and there was a lot of blood.

What to do? He was the kind to just patch himself up and keep on going, but Arthur had always yelled at him for that and called him an idiot. Which was _unfair_ , not wanting to waste time and money at the doctor's wasn't _stupid_ , but it did kind of stick after all the times it had happened. And if something happened to it, there nearest hospital was, like, three hours away. Or something far like that.

Alfred sighed, washed his arm off as best as he could, wrapped it up in cleaner rags, and went to the clinic.

The nurse who greeted him was downright beautiful, with a round face and perfectly smooth, shiny hair. Alfred didn't get long to admire her cheery greeting and pretty smile before she gasped, having seen the state of his arm, and hurried him over to the doctor.

"It's fairly deep," Dr. Kiku Honda said, poking gently at the cut. "You will need stitches."

"Ah, great," Alfred muttered. In a louder voice he asked, "Will I still be able to do work?"

"As long as you are careful not to pull on the stitches, irritate the wound, or overexert yourself, you should be able to carry out your farm duties, Mr. Jones."

"Oh, good," he said. He slumped a little bit more in his chair as Dr. Honda went to go get his supplies.

It hurt, but Alfred stared at the wall the whole time and willed himself to be ignore the pain, to be _above_ it, to not scream as the needle poked repeatedly into his arm.

"There we go," Dr. Honda murmured as he tied off the stitches. "Please see Mei for medicine, but after that, you are free to return to your work."

"Thanks, doc." He bounded up out of his chair in a flash. The sooner he got out into the fresh air, the better. A thought did occur to him just before he rushed out of the curtained area, and he turned back to Dr. Honda. "Oh, by the way, I have a kind of random question."

Dr. Honda looked up from where he was putting things away. "Yes?"

"I was talking to Timo the other day and he said there was a kopa or something in the lake and that I should ask you about it?"

"A _kappa_ ," Dr. Honda corrected, pronouncing the syllables with a clear sharpness. "I have heard rumors about such a creature living in the lake. However, I have never seen it for myself. I believe it is simply an urban legend."

"Even when you tossed a whatsit, a cucumber in the water?"

Dr. Honda smiled slightly. "Yes, Mei and I tried to summon it a few years ago. We never saw anything appear."

"Oh." Alfred sighed with relief. "That's good to hear. Anyway, thanks again!" He turned and exited back into the main room.

Mei was talking to another man by the shelves of the pharmacy. She looked up at him and smiled. "Let me get the medicine the doctor requested – it'll be just a moment."

While she was scanning the shelves, Alfred waited by the desk. The man she had been talking to walked over. "My name is Yao Wang," he said, settling a hand on the desk. "Are you the new farmer?"

"Yep! That's me!"

Yao smiled slightly. "I've been investigating the medicinal properties of the herbs on this mountain, but gathering sufficient materials for testing has been proving troublesome. I know that you have been able to find some, as we've been buying samples from the daily shipments, but if you could trouble yourself to bring them directly here for us to buy, it would be very appreciated."

"You mean the colored grasses?"

Yao nodded. "They grow along the beach, and in various areas around the mountain. I believe they may have the ability to restore energy and relax the body. If I succeed, I could offer you samples of the resulting medicine."

Okay, that sounded pretty neat. "Sure, why not." It had to be at least as lucrative as fish, right? And it was an excuse to see the pretty nurse again.

"Mr. Wang." Dr. Honda appeared from behind Alfred. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

They went off to whisper in the corner. Alfred was saved from the temptation of eavesdropping by Mei, who handed him the medicine and took most of what was left of his money in exchange. "I hope you heal up quickly," she said. "And by the way, if you're going to go up the mountain, you might want to ask Mr. Zwingli. He lives with his sister Lili in the house with the public library attached. He knows the safest routes and everything."

"Oh, that house. I know where that is."

Mei giggled. "He can be a little mean-looking at first, but really he's not. Just be extra nice to his sister, okay?"

Alfred walked straight there – not that it was far – already feeling like the pain in his arm was diminishing. When he entered the library, a cute young girl with a ribbon in her hair looked up and shot him a smile before going back to her book.

He looked around, and, not seeing anyone else, approached her slowly. "Um," he whispered. She put her book aside again.

"Yes?" she asked with a shy smile, her voice sweet and childlike.

"Are you Lili? Ms. Mei at the clinic said that your brother knows a lot about traveling around the mountain."

"I'll go find him," she said. "Please wait a moment."

Basch Zwingli met him with a frown on his face. Apparently Alfred had interrupted his work or something. But as they talked about the mountain in the foyer of the attached house, he loosened up a _little_ bit, to the point where he just looked serious. Alfred took a few mental notes from what he was saying. He'd done some hiking and stuff before, but it was nice to know that he wasn't in danger of, say, venomous snakes or scorpions or territorial eagles around here.

That night, it wasn't cold or anything, but Alfred couldn't sleep. Thoughts of a mysterious, slimy, green-skinned creature rising from the water deeps and coming to eat him consumed his thoughts. If he were back in the city, he might have called Arthur – Arthur would have yelled at him for watching horror movies again and calling so late but would have stayed on the line anyway – but Alfred didn't have the money for a long-distance call now.

He had to know.

...but not at night. He knew better than _that_.

He eventually fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion and rose later than he should have. After watering his cucumbers, he carefully picked one of the tiny baby cucumber fruits and took it down to the lake.

It was a very nice lake. The water's surface was rippling in the constant mountain breeze, and the water lapped gently at the shore in miniature waves.

Alfred took a deep breath to give himself some courage, and then tossed the cucumber.

For a few moments, nothing happened, and he started to think that things were okay. There were no monsters living in the lake! Nothing was going to happen–

A slimy green head, the color of lily pads, rose above the surface. Beady eyes stared straight at him, before clawed hands reached for the bobbing cucumber, grabbed it, and shoved it in the gaping, ichor-filled mouth. _Crunch. Crunch_.

Alfred couldn't move.

"Next time, bring a ripe one," the _thing_ said, before sinking back out of sight.

For a few more seconds, Alfred was frozen in place, images of the creature that had appeared drifting before his eyes like ghosts. Then:

" _Aaaaaah!_ " he screamed, scrambling up and sprinting away from the lake as fast as his legs would take him.

The trees became a blur of green and brown on either side of him, and he could just barely see the path in front of him as a streak of more brown cutting through the grass. Maybe his lungs were burning but his panic out-voted them and he didn't slow down in the least bit because until he had hurtled all the way back to his farm he wasn't going to be safe and nothing was going to stop him from getting there in the least amount of time possible.

He slammed into something tall and heavy. It sent him tumbling backwards to land on the dirt. His injured arm throbbed at the sudden weight being put on it.

"Oof."

He blinked a few times and looked up to see what terrible thing he must have run into. It was only Berwald (thankfully _not_ carrying an axe today). Timo was with him again, and now he was hovering over Alfred.

"Are you alright?" he asked, offering a hand. "Did something happen?"

"N-not really," Alfred answered, accepting the hand and almost accidentally pulling Timo over as he hauled himself up. "I, uh, I'm just in a hurry and wasn't looking where I was going really sorry about that bye!"

He waved good-bye and resumed his sprint home.

~!~

Alfred had long had the idea that Catholic services were stuffy, boring things that went on for ever and ever. And maybe that was what they were like in _other_ churches, but apparently not this one. The sermon that Feliks gave was downright colloquial and easy to follow along with. At the end, the man who had come in with Elizabeta – he must have been her husband – played the beautiful organ set underneath the stained-glass image of angels set at the front of the church, and boy, could he play.

When it was all over and people had stood up and started chatting to each other, Feliks came over to him. "Like, how was it? You can be totally honest, I won't be offended."

Alfred told him he had enjoyed it, but they didn't get to talk much more than that before Feliks got pulled off to speak with someone else.

He waved to Lili on his way out and ducked around Gilbert to get through the door. He took his time returning to his farm, taking a stroll through the town square, which was surrounded by blooming flowers in half a dozen different colors.

Technically, he knew, people weren't supposed to work on Sundays. But if he didn't water his crops, they would wither, and walking up the mountain to pick some herbs wasn't really _work_ , right?

~!~

Alfred stepped into the mine, trying to feel the spirit of adventure rather then trepidation. He was Indiana Jones, not some guy about to get eaten by a cave ghost.

Gilbert had (over a _lot_ of beer, but still) promised him that he could make Alfred's tools better, if only Alfred could supply his with the metal needed to do so. Like copper, and iron, and... well, whatever else he could find.

Elizabeta's warnings echoed in his mind, but she had said that only the _lower_ levels were dangerous, right? He was going to stick to the top ones for now.

It was dim, with only the light from the small entrance to illuminate the entire room. Trying not to think too hard about explosive gasses, he lit one of his many sticks of firewood and wedged it between a couple of rocks. The glow from the fire was comforting.

Alfred lifted his hammer and began to search. With any luck, he would find enough this afternoon to improve at least one of his tools, and maybe Gilbert would even let him watch. That would be _so cool_.

~!~

A couple of days later, when his cucumbers were temptingly close to ripe on their vines (just a little more time! A little more and he could harvest them!), Alfred hauled a box full of herbs he'd found up to the clinic. Mei was sitting by the window, doing something on a clipboard, while Dr. Honda was reading a medical journal or something at the desk. "Oh, good afternoon, Mr. Jones," Mei greeted with a smile, setting her paperwork aside and sliding off the windowsill. "Let me just fetch Yao."

"Alfred," he corrected as she turned toward the stairs. "'Mr. Jones' makes me feel old."

She nodded at him before heading up the staircase, returning just a moment later with Yao. While he sorted through all the herbs that Alfred had brought (and there were quite a few; he'd gone all over the mountain and the woods except for the part right next to the lake looking for them over the past few days), she asked him about how his farm was going, and he told her about the beehive he had just discovered and how the crops were almost ready for a first harvest.

Once Yao had pulled out the herbs he wanted and paid for them, Mei said, "You know, it's right around closing time for us. I was just going to go down to the beach, did you want to join me? I could tell you a bit more about Olive Branch, if you want."

"Sure!"

Yao gave them a weird look, but Alfred didn't pay it much mind. Instead he balanced his now-empty crate on his hip and waited a couple of minutes for Mei to finish filling out her forms and giving them to Dr. Honda. Then she tossed her nurse's cap and pinafore onto a chair and skipped out the door with him, ignoring Yao's protest that she put her things away properly.

She told him a little about the town's history while they strolled down to the beach. There, they made seats for themselves among the sand. The sun was starting to set, but the beach faced east, not west, so instead of the bright colors of a sunrise, they got to watch the slow darkening of the eastern horizon and the faint sparkling of the first stars appearing one-by-one among the black.

Alfred had only come here a couple of times before. He knew that Mikkel and Lukas and whoever Lukas's little brother was (Alfred had yet to meet him) lived in the long, low wood building that was built just above the beach. The other times he had been here, there had been a few people fishing off the pier, but it was late enough now that they had the whole place to themselves.

"There's a guy who comes here during the summer to run that food place," Mei said, pointing to the small boarded-up building next to the house. "His name's Carlos. The old farmer used to grow pineapples for him – they take forever to grow, but there's nothing like fresh pineapple juice."

"Maybe I could try planting some?" Alfred suggested.

"Mm, that would be good. They take a long time to fruit, I think, but they're so~o good."

Summer in the city had meant swelteringly hot streets with steam practically rising from the asphalt, going to work early just to escape into the air conditioning, and everyone suddenly taking vacation days out of town. Here, it would mean extra watering of crops and time on the beach.

"If I can ask," Mei said, leaning against her legs, "why did you come move out here? I mean, I like it out here, but I always preferred living in the city. There's always so much going on. And here if you get annoyed at someone, it's a lot harder to avoid them."

"Cities are nice," Alfred agreed, tilting his head back to the sky. "But... I didn't like my job. And when I was a kid, I liked dirt and animals and gardening and stuff like that. My family went to pick berries in the summer, and in the winter we'd visit our relatives up north and collect maple sugar. So I'm used to it, I guess."

"I see." Mei stretched her legs out and leaned back on her arms. "I moved out here when Kiku got his job as the town doctor. Had to make sure he didn't hole himself up, you know? And I could be on the ocean. I like the water."

They sat there together for quite a while, as the sky darkened above and the street lamps turned on their orange glows. Mei didn't seem to mind when he filled up the silence with whatever came to mind, from his adventure with the Kappa to how cool the forge was to his grand plans for the farm. Eventually, however, she had to go home to eat dinner, and he whistled _Yankee Doodle_ the whole walk back to his farm.

~!~

He received his first piece of mail the next day. It was a postcard from Matthew depicting Anne of Green Gables. The message on the back, written in Matthew's incredibly neat handwriting, wished him luck on the farm and contained a few updates on his life. Alfred taped it to the wall next to his window.

~!~

Finally finally _finally_ his crops were ripe and ready to be picked! And already another round of cucumbers was growing and ripening on the plants!

Alfred just _had_ to wait for Mikkel to arrive (with Lukas keeping him company as usual) just to show them off. "Look what I have today!" he said, holding up one of the big, juicy, perfectly green cucumbers.

"Awesome!" Mikkel laughed, setting his box down. "You're a real farmer now."

Lukas, on the other, didn't say anything, just plucked the cucumber out of Alfred's hand. As Alfred stared in shock, he took a bite of it and chewed it with a thoughtful look. "'s good," he pronounced.

"Um, you're going to pay me for that, right...?"

" _He_ will."

When the two of them left, Alfred barely noticed. He had _so much money_ now! ...or at least it felt like a lot. It wouldn't have been enough to pay rent on his apartment in the city, not if he wanted to eat, but he didn't have rent now. It was enough to buy a lot more seeds. It was probably even enough to buy a chicken or two.

Eggs. Big, fresh, eggs, scrambled and soft-boiled and sunny-side-up. He could hardly wait.

The very next day, once he was finished watering his plants and collecting honey from his bees, he headed straight for the chicken farm. There wasn't anyone outside like there were some days – usually that Ivan guy, or occasionally the girl he had met on his first day here with the pale blond hair. So he went inside, though he stopped right inside the door.

Ivan turned to greet him with a smile that sent chills down Alfred's spine – probably his instinctive distrust of Russians kicking in. "Would you like to buy a chicken?" he asked, his voice quite innocent despite the pipe that he was clutching like a weapon.

"Um."

Before he could decide whether or not he did, in fact, want to deal with this guy, a short-haired girl appeared from the upstairs. "Natalia wants to talk with you, Ivan," she said as she reached the ground floor. "I'll help this customer."

Weird, Ivan had gone pale all of a sudden. And he went up the stairs, but did it with the extreme caution of someone expecting something terrible to happen. Huh.

Alfred didn't have long to wonder about it. "My name is Irina. I help run this place with my brother and sister," she said. "Would you like to buy a chicken, or did you need something else?"

They moved outside and to the coops once Alfred had confirmed that he wanted a chicken. The ones here were all white and clean, squawking and cooing to each other as they wandered around looking for food.

"This one is young, she just started laying regularly, and she's very healthy, so I think she'll be a good first hen for you," Irina said, picking up one of the chickens. "Do you know how to care for them?"

He'd read a book at the library. That counted, right? "Yep!"

"That's good." She named the price for the chicken and enough feed for a couple of weeks and Alfred counted out the money. "How about I carry the feed for you?"

"If you like. I can make two trips."

"I'd like to take a walk before it rains, anyway."

Once the hen was settled down in the chicken barn, Irina gave him a few more tips, and then pointed out the incubator tucked into the wall. "If you put one of this hen's eggs here, it will hatch into a new chick after a few days. You can always buy more hens from us, but if you want to grow your flock slowly and don't mind waiting for them to grow up, it's a good way to say money."

"Um. Don't you need a rooster for that?"

Irina shook her head. "Nope. These chickens are different."

"...okay!"

~!~

Alfred entered the clinic with his box full of herbs, only to find that Dr. Honda was nowhere to be seen and that Mei and Yao were arguing by the shelves. They were doing it very quietly, though, whispering to each other angrily. Not really knowing what to do, Alfred set his box down and stood awkwardly by the door.

Dr. Honda appeared on the staircase, nodded at Alfred, and then hurried over to the other two. He tapped Yao on the arm, making him turn and hiss something that Alfred couldn't hear. Dr. Honda shook his head and glanced at Alfred, then tugged on Yao's wrist. The two of them disappeared upstairs, and as soon as they were out of sight Mei bounced over to him and pulled him out of the clinic.

"Sorry you had to see that," she muttered. "Can we go to the square?"

"Sure. You're dressed pretty today."

Today Mei wasn't wearing one of her nurse's dresses, but rather some kind of traditional Chinese thing with bell-sleeves and a full skirt.

"Thanks." She didn't smile, though. "Sorry, it's just... aagh. Yao gets on my nerves _so badly_ sometimes."

"Is that why you two were arguing?"

"He always thinks that _his_ way of doing things is right and that he knows more than us about _everything_. He was even trying to rearrange the medicines today when it's like, that's _my_ job and I already know where everything is!" She huffed and pulled her hair behind her ear. "I don't mean to get mad at you, sorry. Let's just have a nice walk, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Alfred glanced back at the clinic as it disappeared from sight. "Are you guys related or...?"

"You can tell? We're all cousins. Though Yao spent a lot of time half raising Kiku and our other cousin Yong Soo when we were younger, and he used to babysit a lot 'cause he was the oldest, so that's probably why he has this idea that he knows best all the time." She sighed. "He means well, but it's so infuriating sometimes. Anyway!" She clapped her hands. "Enough about that. Did you hear about the cooking festival? It's in a couple of days."

"You guys have a festival for _food_?" Surely this place couldn't keep getting better.

"Yep! I'm going to make something, but I'm not sure what yet. This year's theme is 'Juice', though that includes things like tea too. Are you going to enter?"

Alfred scratched his head. "Um, my kitchen is kind of not really a kitchen. An' I don't have enough money to upgrade it yet."

She patted him on the shoulder. "That's okay. You'll be able to enter next year, I'm sure of it."

"I'll come cheer you on this round!" He gave her a wide smile, which made her laugh and tug him on into the square.

~!~

Mail again? Huh. Alfred turned down the flag and pulled out the envelope inside the mailbox.

It was from Arthur.

Curious, Alfred sat down by his pond and opened it. There were several pages, front and back, covered in cramped handwriting. Arthur had started the letter by berating him for not telling him that he was moving to a farm, or giving him the address, before moving on to news about what was going on back in the city and thoughts about this-or-that.

Alfred read it twice, then laid his head back in the grass with a smile. He would have to write Arthur back later. Honestly, he had been so busy and so excited about moving that he hadn't though to tell anyone but Matthew, who would tell everyone else eventually _anyway_.

Later, later. He stood up, stretched, and went in to set the letter on his table. Tonight, he decided. He could brag about his cucumbers and chickens and draw pictures all over the letter to try and distract Arthur from his messy handwriting.

~!~

According to his almanac, it was the first day of summer, and already it was warm and cloudless. Armed with seeds for corns and tomatoes and other good things, Alfred surveyed his field. He'd finally gotten it completely cleared off and ready for planting, and last night he'd torn down the last of the spring plants.

Later, he would go find what new things were growing on the mountainside. Basch had invited him along on one of his research-gathering hikes, and he'd probably find a ton of things to take to Yao. He would have to find a pretty flower to take to Mei, too. But that was later, and first, he had work to do.

He tore open a packet of corn seeds and started to plant.


End file.
